PATIENTS who attack NHS staff should be jailed, according to almost half the people who responded to a North West Government survey.
A poll conducted by the NHS's Security Management Service found 46 per cent of people surveyed in the region thought thugs who abuse staff should be locked up.
And 21 per cent thought they should be thrown out of hospitals, GP surgeries and other NHS departments without being treated.
About one in five said they had seen staff being attacked or verbally abused.
Last October a 52-year-old man was spared jail after headbutting a manager of a Blackburn GP practice.
Colleagues said the assault left 49-year-old Rosemary Emmans "struggling to cope" and leading GP Dr Malcolm Ridgway called the community sentence "trivial".
Today the Security Management Service said new guidelines would allow closer working between the NHS and the police.
Health Minister Rosie Winterton, said: "It is totally wrong that so many of our hard-working doctors and nurses are subject to violence and verbal abuse whilst trying to treat patients."
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